Project initiation is the first project management process to execute in the
project lifecycle, and it will be the focus of approximately 8.5% of the exam
questions. Although the exam questions regarding the Initiating process tend to
be straightforward and involve only 1 of the 39 PMBOK processes (Initiation),
many project managers have minimal real-life experience with these activities.
And for the project managers with experience in project initiation, the terms
and processes they use may not be consistent with PMI's expectations.

To streamline your exam preparations, we will focus on the
"gotta-know" concepts and terms that are important to PMI, and the
"common" gaps you may need to close to be ready for the exam questions
related to project initiation.

The Importance of Project Initiation

Because many project managers have never completed activities in this phase
(never completed a project charter, never signed a contract, and so on),
let's quickly review why PMI considers project initiation an important
process.

Initiation is the first step in the project management process, and it is the
first step in the scope-management process. It authorizes (formally) a project
to begin and links a project to the work and to the strategic objectives of the
organization.

Be sure to understand that the Initiation step can occur more than once in a
project. The Initiation process is also performed at the end of each project
phase to get authorization to continue the project. A common term for this point
is a go/no-go decision.

CAUTION

Per PMI, projects should be aligned with the organization's strategic
direction. The project-initiation process at the beginning of each project and
at the beginning of each phase helps to ensure this alignment throughout the
project lifecycle.

Based on our experience, many professionals associate project initiation with
some type of "analysis" effort, such as assessment, feasibility study,
or business case development. To PMI, the "analysis" effort is a
separate project (with its own project charter) that provides information needed
to make a decision about initiating a new project.